Telco building blocks save on research

NEWS

Chipmaker Intel and equipment makers Hewlett-Packard and Alcatel have come to Supercomm in Atlanta to offer a solution to the telephone industry's financial woes: a notion called modularity. The idea, to be highlighted on Tuesday at the Supercomm 2003 trade show, is simple: Manufacturers of equipment for telecoms agree on the same basic building blocks for the switches, routers and other equipment they make, and then add their own improvements from there. Along with the designs from those three tech heavyweights, Supercomm will play host to a range of other companies introducing products based on those designs. Nokia, Avici, Samsung, US Robotics and even Microsoft, a relative newcomer to telecommunications, are expected to unveil such products on Tuesday. Intel product manager Anthony Ambrose estimates that by using the same basic ingredients, equipment makers and telephone service providers will spend 20 percent less to build their gear because they won't have to develop every piece in-house. The savings can be passed on to the telephone company or to business customers. That's far from the case right now. While the final products might look the same on the outside, nearly all the basic elements of telephone network equipment differ dramatically, from the size of the shelves that store circuit boards to the type of screws that keep the metal cabinets of a telephone switch together. When the economy was flourishing, simultaneously with the exploding use of cell phones and the growth of the Internet, it wasn't hard for companies to justify expensive research and development to develop network gear from the ground up. But the robust economy is no more. Instead, the norm has been draconian cutbacks in spending, as much as 20 percent, by telephone carriers and large corporations. Modularity is gaining momentum, Ambrose said, because paring down costs is now the buzzword for the industry. "We're past the 'Oh my God, times are tough' stage," he said. "We're now at 'You can't hurt me anymore than I've been hurt.'" Intel, HP and Alcatel have been pushing modularity for at least two years. Now the three companies have begun to put products on the market based on their idea. On Tuesday, they unveiled the basic building blocks they want the rest of the telephone network equipment industry to begin using. Announced at the Supercomm 2003, the designs call for a mix of Intel processors plus the standard Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA). Another standard, dictating such things as the number of shelves and size of cabinets, all collected in the Rack Mount Servers standard, is also part of the Intel, HP and Altcatel push, Ambrose said. HP plans to publish designs for this new type of server based on the modular concept, which it is calling the cc33110, in the second half of the year. Intel itself has released another set of designs for its TIGPR2U carrier-grade server, which uses the company's Xeon processor operating at 2.4GHz. Ambrose expects it'll take months before the concept goes from a few stray pieces of equipment to full-blown industry acceptance. "We don't expect whole world to convert in six months," he said. "People are adopting the elements wherever they can right now. Some have made decisions now, but it'll take two years to implement."

For a round-up of the latest on ISPs, broadband and related issues, see the Telecoms News Section. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

6 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

14 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

15 hours ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

16 hours ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

18 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

19 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

21 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

21 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

21 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

22 hours ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

24 hours ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

1 day ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

1 day ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

1 day ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

1 day ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

1 day ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

1 day ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

1 day ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Telco building blocks save on research

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Supercomm diversifies as telcos suffer

Microsoft makes Longhorn in modules

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Solutions Architect - Oxford - publishing

Project/ImplementationManager - homebased - DataWarehouse/BI

Project/Implementation Manager-homebased-Data Warehouse/BI

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

How to handle data replication

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

Telco building blocks save on research

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features